AMD RX 7800XT review

Well, it is adorned with AMD's latest RDNA 3 architecture — a sizeable leap beyond its predecessor, RDNA 2. AMD has shifted from the 7nm process node to the exalted 5nm cathedral of TSMC. The result? The RX 7000-series emerges up to 50% more power-efficient than its 6000-series ancestors. With that being said, it uses an 8-pin connector and you will need a 700W PSU.

This prodigious GPU boasts a base clock of 2430MHz. Underneath the Radeon RX 7800 XT's slender exterior lies a generous 16GB of DDR6 VRAM, a reservoir of memory clocking in at 19.5 gigabits per second, traversing a 256-bit memory bus. This amalgamation of memory wizardry translates to a bandwidth of 624GBps, which is slightly faster than the Nvidia counterpart.

The prodigious power comes at a price, and in this case, it's the Total Board Power (TDP) of a rather robust 263 watts. Brace yourselves, for in the world of gaming, power and performance dance a delicate waltz, and the Radeon RX 7800 XT leads with a flourish, even if it's not without a hint of extravagance.

First things first. Let’s get benchmarks out of the way. In the 3D Mark Port Royal test the 7800XT scored 9877. The 3D Mark Raytracing Feature Test shows an average FPS of 31 and in the Speed Way Stress Test, the best loop score was 3645. We also ran the AMD FSR Feature Test and got a 74.1% difference with FSR2 on/off.  

The above scores make it abundantly clear that in the realm of Raytracing, AMD, alas, finds itself akin to a valiant knight wielding a somewhat dulled sword. The RX 7800 XT, for all its grandeur, still treads a path somewhat behind the GeForce RTX 4070 when it comes to Raytracing performance. So if you are a die-hard fan of Raytracing tech and lust over that sort of visual wizardry instead of pure rasterization performance you might want to invest in the mean green team. For the others here’s how a few games fared at 1440p on Ultra settings with FSR enabled but no overclocking done…

AMD is bundling a copy of Bethesda’s latest Starfield along with a few of their units. We of course got a copy and it is one of the first games to support the latest AMD tech. With everything set to Ultra, we got an average of 55-60fps occasionally dropping off to lower numbers from time to time during busy scenes.

God Of War averaged at a cool 60fps as well with everything set to ultra. Even in the busier scenes, the RX 7800 XT performed well without any issues or exceptional frame drops. When compared to the RTX 4070, it’s almost head-to-head.

Even in other games like Cyberpunk 2077 which is an Nvidia-supported title, we averaged about 90FPS without Raytracing on but as soon as you opt-in with FSR enabled, the frames drop significantly, reinforcing the earlier findings in the benchmark tests. The RX7800 XT manages exceptionally well in games like Returnal and also Warhammer, where it even outshines the RTX 4070.

In 2023, where GPU prices have reached the zenith of absurdity, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT gives us humble gamers hope with a price so accessible. 

True, the realm of Raytracing may remain a challenging frontier for AMD but as the bard's refrain goes, "To each, their own forte." AMD's strengths lie elsewhere, and in a world where practicality often reigns supreme, the RX 7800 XT stands as a formidable choice for those who seek gaming excellence without breaking the royal treasury or selling any body parts. 

We shall keep updating this review with more game performance numbers as time passes by should you wish to wait it out and make a more informed decision after AMD pushes out more stable drivers.